The Miami-Dade County School District voted Tuesday to press ahead with its effort to remove a children's book on life in Cuba from its school libraries. The board voted 5-2 to appeal a federal judge's temporary order barring the district from removing the children's book, along with 23 others in the series. The district wants to remove "Vamos a Cuba" ("A Visit to Cuba") following a parent's complaint that it failed to accurately depict the reality of life under Cuba's communist government. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida sued to keep the books on the shelf, arguing that they were generally factual, and that the board should add books to its collection, rather than removing those it disagreed with. ... http://abcnews.go.com

Roger Di Rosa, standing atop a high ridge overlooking a broad basin and the Growler Mountains beyond, recalls what this protected area was like nearly 30 years ago when he did his first tour here in the Southwest's Sonoran Desert."You could go out and not see another person for a week," says Di Rosa, who now manages the sprawling U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge that covers an area the size of Rhode Island. There's no longer a shortage of people here or on other federal land that makes up 43% of the 1,900-mile boundary with Mexico. Aggressive crackdowns along the border in recent years in places such as San Diego and El Paso have pushed illegal immigrants and drug smugglers into remote desert areas in southern Arizona.As a result, employees from park rangers to biologists are dealing more with the effects of illegal immigration, instead of protecting wildlife and helping visitors....http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-22-parks-borders_x.htm?csp=34

A man known as "Superpapa" who says he took advantage of a quirk in German laws to adopt more than 300 children worldwide has been arrested on suspicion of violating laws on child rearing in Paraguay, authorities said Tuesday. Jurgen Ernst Hass, a German citizen whose claims were widely published in the European media, was picked up Monday at a hotel in the city of Caaguazu and taken to a jail in the capital of Asuncion, about 140 miles east, according to a police statement.Police said Hass, 56, was turned over to the courts for investigation of reported attempts to adopt dozens of Paraguayan children and would be called for initial questioning in coming days.Hass, dubbed "Superpapa" by the local press, drew attention with public boasts of numerous adoptions around the world....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209835,00.html

A suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden car into a Canadian military patrol in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, wounding four soldiers. Two Canadian soldiers were wounded in a separate attack in the same province. And insurgents ambushed a police vehicle near the Pakistan border, killing five officers.The series of attacks added to one of Afghanistan's bloodiest outbreaks of violence since the ouster of the Taliban regime in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Over 100 people _ including four U.S. troops and one British soldier _ have died in three days of intense fighting centered on southern Afghanistan, which threaten NATO efforts to stabilize the region.The suicide bomber plowed his car into a Canadian military convoy in the city of Kandahar, wounding four soldiers and a civilian and killing a child, officials said.Two Canadian military vehicles were set on fire, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene....http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4133181.html

85 year-old Benjamin Steinbach said he'll stick to using his riding lawn mower on his grass & not take it on sidewalks to run errands around town. But a miffed Steinbach said Mon he still doesn't understand why the practice is prohibited. Steinbach has been getting around on the mower since the state took away his driver's license 2 years ago, citing health reasons. He's been driving the mower at least a few times a week a half mile to a nearby supermarket & hardware store. He has even gone nearly a mile to pay a bill at City Hall, in this quaint suburban town. Cedarburg Police Chief Tom Frank said he had never seen or heard of Steinbach's mower-driving until a reporter recently asked him about it. He said state law allows only a few vehicles on sidewalks, such as motorized wheelchairs, scooters & the new Segways. He should just get himself a Goat Cart or Horse and Buggy and go on the road. No license or insurance required. Just keep off the Freeway as they have a minimum speed...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2343545

The US Marine Corps said Tue it has been authorized to recall thousands of Marines to active duty, primarily because of a shortage of volunteers for duty in Iraq & Afghanistan.Up to 2,500 Marines will be brought back at any one time, but there is no cap on the total number of Marines who may be forced back into service in the coming years as the military battles the war on terror. The call-ups will begin in the next several months. This is the first time the Marines have had to use the involuntary recall since the early days of the Iraq combat. The Army has ordered back about 14,000 soldiers since the start of the war. Marine Col. Guy A. Stratton, estimated that there is a current shortfall of about 1,200 Marines needed to fill positions in upcoming unit deployments. The call-up affects Marines in the Individual Ready Reserve, a segment of the reserves that consists mainly of those who left active duty but still have time remaining on their 8 year military obligation...http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-22-marines_x.htm?csp=34